We hear the dramatic nature of Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week in two drastically contrasting voices of the crowd in the city of Jerusalem. The crowd shouts from “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” to “Crucify him!” They have a clear expectation from Jesus, which is to save them as “hosanna” in Hebrew means “save or rescue.” The one who cannot save them in the way they want is not only considered useless but deceiving and disappointing. He deserves severe punishment.
This seemingly radical shift from “Hosanna” to “Crucify” may represent our natural inclination to our own failure. The higher our expectations, the harder we’ll fall. The most unhealthy and violent way to handle this deep failure would be to get rid of the origin of the crowd’s expectation, the one on whom they project the image of their ultimate savior. In Jesus’ time, it was Jesus to whom the crowd’s anger was targeted. In our time, however, it is usually ourselves we aim our anger toward, which then becomes self-hatred. We want to save ourselves but when we fail, we crucify ourselves. The psycho-spiritual difference between the crowd and us is onto who we project the image of a savior. In the case of the crowd, it is Jesus whereas in our case, it is us. The real issue lies in that we would rather be saved in our own way, not in the way of God the Savior. So, in both cases, the result is the same. Crucify our failed project of saving ourselves on our own! As long as we don’t change the way we desire to be saved, we will continue to crucify ourselves, our neighbors, and the world around us. Jesus ends this cycle of our self-serving and self-saving behavior as he walks to the way of the cross. He shows the way we are to be saved. We can only save ourselves by learning how to be saved, which is to follow the way of love with Jesus of Nazareth. I’ve never paid attention to today’s lesson from the Book of Isaiah until this Passion Sunday. As we can see, the lesson gives us insight into how Jesus would’ve thought of his calling to follow the way of love himself and to show it to others. I believe we as Christians share this calling of Jesus together from the moment when we were baptized and Christened. We too have been given “the tongue of a teacher” to sustain the weary with a word. Our Christian mission is never to forcefully proselytize or argue our righteousness or speak hurtful words but to uplift with kind words and compassionate presence those who are suffering. Throughout the lesson, we can imagine how Jesus would’ve been able to bear all the insults he faced from his arrest and trial to the cross. He wasn’t naive about his suffering but certainly knew what was going to happen to him. He would’ve to keep on going without turning backward, to give his back to those who struck him and his cheeks to those who pulled out the beard. He did not hide his face from insult and spitting. Here, we may want to ask how he was able to do that. Let’s be realistic that Jesus didn’t just decide to follow the way of love instantly. The gravity of his suffering is not that kind of thing that he could’ve just done without any hesitation or difficulty. To find out how he was able to go through his passion, II want us to pay attention to what would’ve been Jesus’ spiritual practice, imagining that he also read this lesson from the Book of Isaiah. In his spiritual experience, it is God who awakens and opens his ears morning by morning. He listens to God every morning. This figurative expression of Jesus listening to God or God awakening him shouldn’t be treated lightly. This contemplative practice is where and when God and Jesus become one. It is the very source where Jesus is equipped and empowered to walk the way of love. This union between God and Jesus is real. Can you recall those moments that you are listening to your favorite music that you don’t even recognize yourself but there’s this oneness between you and the music? In this union with God, there’s self-forgetfulness that we are liberated from ourselves and embraced into the divine union. Jesus who is in constant and eternal union with God the Father through the Holy Spirit is selfless. There’s no shame even if he goes through insults and spitting. He sets his face like a flint. How? He would say, “God who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty?” Let’s not misunderstand Jesus’ claim to be innocent in a judicial manner as if his (or our) relationship with God is like that of a judge and a defendant. The one who is in union with God has no spot of sin because of God’s radiant light. As we share the same calling of Jesus who walks the way of love as the tongue of a teacher who sustains the weary, let us first sit and listen morning by morning. Let God awaken us and open our ears that we are in God’s presence. That is where we listen to the cries of our neighbors who are suffering. That is the way of love. From there, we can truly hear the voice of Jesus who invites us, “Let us stand up together.” Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
|